Lack of Sleep

In today’s world, sleep seems to be the last thing on people’s mind. With their busy modern lives, Americans are finding it more difficult to get enough sleep every night. Many people also seem to have the idea that sleep is a waste of time that they could be using in order to do something “more productive.” But in reality, sleep is just as essential to the human body as oxygen is. Lack of sleep can not only hurt your appearance, but your mental and physical health as well.

So why aren’t we getting enough sleep?

School Starts Too Early

Generally, teenagers need 9 to 10 hours of sleep. However, the average amount of sleep that teens get is only 7 hours. For teenagers, school plays an important role in this issue. Most schools start at 7am to 8 am. Unless a student lives right next to the school, this means waking up at 6 and even as early as 5 in the morning. In order to achieve at least 9 hours of sleep, students would have to go to bed at 8pm. This is highly unrealistic - that is unless you have very little homework and nothing else to do. Here at LIBRA, school starts at 7:30am, people have 7 classes, and most students have honors and AP classes. Not getting enough sleep is a big issue. On average, students here at LIBRA go to bed from 12 at midnight to 1 in the morning, and wake up around 5 to 6 in the morning. According to Alex Morales, an AP and Honor Roll student, getting enough sleep is very difficult. “Getting enough sleep is a real obstacle because of all the homework I have to do. I usually go to sleep at 1am and wake up at 6:30am. I always feel tired and exhausted.” This gives students an average of only 5-6 hours of sleep every night, way below the required 9 to 10 hours. This lack of sleep leaves students groggy, cranky, and unable to focus all day.

Sleep Deprivation Can Affect Your Mental and Physical Health

Everyone knows that when someone doesn’t get enough sleep, the eyes get dark circles, their skin looks a bit pale, and they’re just generally tired all day. But under those dark eye circles are more serious health issues that can severely hurt people in the long run.

When someone does not have enough sleep, everyday tasks can actually be dangerous. The basic symptoms of lack of sleep are irritability, grogginess, mood swings, exhaustion, and impaired judgement. But without sleep, a simple task such as driving a car or any other vehicle is dangerous. About 60% of americans drive a vehicle while feeling drowsy, and 37% actually fall asleep behind the wheel.

Lack of sleep can also affect your mental health. People who have very little sleep are generally very depressed and have anxiety. According to WebMD, “Sleep and mood affect each other,” says Verceles. “It’s not uncommon for people who don’t get enough sleep to be depressed or for people who are depressed to not sleep well enough.” Other results of not getting enough sleep are a slow thought process, impair memory, difficulty learning new things, as well as slow reaction time.

How to get enough sleep?

One way to get enough sleep is to stop procrastinating. Many students go to bed late because they wait last minute to complete homework. Gettinne through the day instead of waiting last minute is a way to be productive and have more time to sleep. Exercise and good diet also plays an important role. Eating a lot of junk food slows down the body and makes people feel lethargic. In general, having a healthy diet gives you energy throughout the day making you more productive. Exercising keeps your body healthy, making sure that your body knows when it’s time to go to bed. If you don’t exercise, your body will be full of energy and therefore cannot fall asleep.

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